A new passenger ferry service recently began between Vancouver and the central Vancouver Island city of Nanaimo. The Nanaimo Express offers four sailings a day in each direction aboard a Flying Cat catamaran that cruises at up to 37 knots (nearly 40 m.p.h.). It joins two other Flying Cats that have been providing service between Vancouver and Victoria on Vancouver Island since February. The 296-passenger, water-jet-propelled vessel on the Nanaimo route will make the...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 rattled the coast of British Columbia's Vancouver Island on Wednesday evening and was felt by hundreds of people in dozens of cities in Canada and the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was in effect, the National Tsunami Warning Center said. The quake, at a depth of 7.1 miles, struck at 8:10 p.m. local time (0310 GMT). It was 58.4...

VANCOUVER, Dec 12 (Reuters) - An Air Canada Jazz turboprop plane bound for Vancouver was forced to make an emergency landing in the Pacific Coast province of British Columbia on Thursday after a fire broke out in one of its engines. No one was injured in the incident. Shortly after the Jazz Dash 8-300 aircraft took off from the city of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island, the crew was notified of an engine oil issue and flames were seen near one of the engines, Air...

Singer-songwriter Joe Pug insists that he's not prone to rash decisions, even if the last few years have proved otherwise. Three years ago, Pug, 23, was about to start his senior year at the University of North Carolina where he was studying to be a playwright. Today, the Greenbelt, Md., native finds himself working as a general contractor in Chicago as he pursues his dream of becoming a musician. "I'm not that type of person," says Pug, explaining the sudden nature of his decision.

Grace J. Smith, age 97, died on Jan. 3, 2007, at Monroe Clinic Hospital. She was born on Sept. 23, 1909, near Millburn, IL. The youngest of six children of Albert E. and Grace (Stanley) Jack-longtime residents of Lake County, IL. Graduated from Waukegan High School in 1926. Graduated from the University of Illinois in 1932. She married Howard E. Smith, June 29, 1935, at the First Congregational Church in Waukegan, IL, and lived from that date to 1976, in Gurnee IL. In 1957, She was employed by Outboard Marine...

Daniel J. Koenig Ph.D, March 3, 1942 - Nov. 29, 2001. A Chicago Native. Dr. Koenig passed away on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada where he was a Professor of Sociology at the University of Victoria. A noted expert on criminology, he worked as a consultant to the Solicitor General of Canada and many other governmental agencies. He is survived by his wife Gwyneth, nee Peterson; his children Dawn, Deanna, Kathleen, Kim, Matthew and Brooklyn; three grandchildren; his mother Rosemary Koenig, nee Rach; his sister...

SEATTLE (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.6 rattled the coast of British Columbia's Vancouver Island on Wednesday evening and was felt by hundreds of people in dozens of cities in Canada and the United States, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were no reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was in effect, the National Tsunami Warning Center said. The quake, at a depth of 7.1 miles, struck at 8:10 p.m. local time (0310 GMT). It was 58.4...

Perhaps the best testimony to the year-round appeal of Vancouver, British Columbia, came when area leaders gathered to discuss a potential Olympic bid. The big debate: Should Vancouver--idyllically situated on a peninsula between mountains and ocean--seek the Winter or Summer Games? As it turned out, the city successfully won the 2010 Winter Olympics, dubbed the Sea to Sky Games. But with due respect for the spectacular Whistler Blackcomb ski resort two hours to the north, Vancouver as a vacation...

Janis Robertson, nee Stratton, formerly Janis Johnson of Elcho, WI, former Motorola comptroller, died March 22, 2001, at the age of 48 years. She received her Bachelors Degree in Business at Western Illinois University in McComb, IL, and her Masters Degree in Business Administration at DePaul University in Chicago. Survived by her beloved family including her husband Cameron Robertson; mother Ramona Stratton of Elcho, WI; stepdaughter Candice Robertson and granddaughter Kaitlyn Robertson all of Vancouver Island, British...

With huge swaths of protected pristine wilderness and jaw-dropping landscapes teeming with snow-capped mountains, craggy seafronts and dense temperate rain forests, coastal British Columbia is a haven of natural treasures. But with major highways and a network of user-friendly drive-on ferries, the region is also surprisingly accessible to vehicle travelers in the mood for a kaleidoscope of autumnal color. Coastal B.C. is not just about the outdoors, though. The following easily navigated driving...

Whale-watching doesn't end at California's state borders: Opportunities abound from Oregon up through Alaska and south into Mexico. To the north, experienced whale-watching cruise boats operate from ports along the Pacific coast of Oregon and Washington, around the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound near Seattle, and various locations in British Columbia and Alaska. To the south, tours center on the gray whale breeding grounds of Baja California and the teeming waters of the Sea of Cortez.

Not only is this Canada's top surfing destination, it's also home to Canada's coolest youth hostel. Despite the rain that comes from being in rain forest territory, this great little community on Vancouver Island is such a hit with backpacking travelers that, often, they just don't want to leave. Yvette Latta, 29, of New Zealand was in Vancouver heading for Whistler six weeks ago when a friend suggested she see Tofino. She's still there, working behind the desk at the popular youth...

Grace J. Smith, age 97, died on Jan. 3, 2007, at Monroe Clinic Hospital. She was born on Sept. 23, 1909, near Millburn, IL. The youngest of six children of Albert E. and Grace (Stanley) Jack-longtime residents of Lake County, IL. Graduated from Waukegan High School in 1926. Graduated from the University of Illinois in 1932. She married Howard E. Smith, June 29, 1935, at the First Congregational Church in Waukegan, IL, and lived from that date to 1976, in Gurnee IL. In 1957, She was employed by Outboard Marine...

It's late February. The sky is blue, the temperature moderate, winds mild, the sea is calm. Bill McIntyre points a few hundred yards down the jagged coast and nearly 100 years into history. It's late December, 1905. The sky is pitch black, the temperature freezing, winds howl at 60 miles an hour, the sea is a maelstrom of 30-foot waves. And the Pass of Melfort, a 3,000-ton, four-masted, steel-hulled sailing ship, is about to have its name written in the logbook of the Graveyard of the Pacific.

The Inside Passage is a scenic channel along the coast of British Columbia that is sheltered from the Pacific by Vancouver Island. All manner of marine vessels ply these waters, including ferries, barges and cruise ships making their way north to Alaska and back. In the summer, hundreds of sea kayaks join in, weaving among the islands on the lookout for the orcas who gather here to feast on wild salmon. The closest way to view the these black-and-white leviathans, it seems, is from a kayak.